Compulab fitlet-XA10-LAN Review: A Fanless AMD UCFF PC for Networking Applications
by Ganesh T S on April 19, 2016 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
- Networking
- AMD
- Fanless
- Industrial PC
- Passive Cooling
- CompuLab
Networking Benchmarks
The configuration of the fitlet-XA10-LAN makes it ideal for use in networking applications. Typical uses include operation as a dedicated router, or a firewall appliance (using pfSense or VyOS), or even just generating network traffic for evaluation of other components in the network. Many use-cases can also be served with a standard Linux Mint installation.
Detailed benchmarking of the unit for a particular network application is beyond the scope of this review. However, we did install VyOS on the machine to test out its capabilities as a router. VyOS had no trouble recognizing the USB WLAN adapter and the four Intel NICs. We configured the unit as described in the Quick Start Guide of the official manual. eth3 was configured as the WAN interface. eth0 was configured as a LAN interface. The NAT, DHCP server, DNS forwarder and firewall policies were set up as indicated in the above guide.
Even though plenty of benchmarks can be run for this router configuration, we decided to focus on NAT throughput with the default configuration. In order to test that aspect, we configured a NUC to act as a DHCP server on its wired interface. This wired interface was connected to the WAN port of the VyOS fitlet. The NUC itself was set to a static IP (10.1.1.2) and it gave the VyOS fitlet an IP address of 10.1.1.1.
The fitlet's LAN port was connected to another NUC, and it received an IP address in the configured subnet (192.168.50.0/24). iperf was used to track throughput across the NAT, with the WAN machine acting as a server and the LAN machine acting as a client.
Since the WLAN interface of the NUCs was connected to our default network, we could log on via Remote Desktop to process the iperf commands.
In terms of performance, the fitlet-XA10-LAN was able to route a respectable 843 Mbps across the NAT in the above-mentioned configuration. The fitlet-XA10-LAN with two active LAN interfaces idled at around 9W. When routing at full rate across the two network interfaces, the power consumption peaked at around 15W.
The Intel NICs and the powerful 'unlocked' AMD SoC ensure that the fitlet-XA10-LAN is a powerful network appliance in a compact form factor.
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ingwe - Tuesday, April 19, 2016 - link
This may be a naive question, but would this work as an HTPC? I would love a fanless solution for that and this seems to offer decent performance.monstercameron - Tuesday, April 19, 2016 - link
h.264 8bit 1080p, it could work but dont expect super high bit rates to work.unproven - Tuesday, April 19, 2016 - link
The ancient Zbox Nano AQ01 with an A4-5000 runs my 1080 display flawlessly - never a decoding single while streaming, including every H265 file I've tried.Old low power cores lack in ST performance so interfaces don't always "snap", but this thing should have no troubles at all with FHD TV.
BurntMyBacon - Tuesday, April 19, 2016 - link
Performance-wise it could be used as an HTPC. That said, you'd be better off considering a different variation of the fitlet unless you have a pressing need for all the networking ports.Caveats: The fitlets I had got VERY hot. I found the same results over multiple units and more than one variation of the fitlet, so I don't believe it to be a one off issue. I put them on top of mesh shelving and ran a fan on them as they would discolor the surface of the shelve they sat on over time. They had shallow fins on the top, so I believe they were second revision. The new heatsink may fix this problem.
That all said, you'd probably be better off looking at some of the other offerings from the same company. My experience with the Intense-PC3 and Intense-PC4 have been very positive. They aren't as small as fitlets, but they are still smaller than many consumer grade routers and they don't have the heat issues.
BurntMyBacon - Tuesday, April 19, 2016 - link
Correction - I've had positive experiences with the Fit-PC3 and Fit-PC4. Haven't had the pleasure of using an Intense-PC.ct909 - Tuesday, April 19, 2016 - link
An Intel NUC might not be fanless, but I'm damned if I can ever hear it, and would be a much better HTPC. You could even consider an Intel compute-stick.at80eighty - Tuesday, April 19, 2016 - link
look at the Minix NEO U1 - fanless; 4k, 60fps, 10bit, HEVCraddude9 - Thursday, April 21, 2016 - link
I would look at a different model of the Fitlet for HTPPC purposes. They have a version with just one Ethernet port for $15 less and one with the slightly slower A4 Micro-6400T chip for $69 less. Both of those probably put out less heat so would be more suitable for HTPC applications.Compulab - Thursday, April 21, 2016 - link
6400T is indeed significantly lower cost than 6700T, but for a given workload the 6700T would be lower-power since for a given frequency it can run at lower core voltage.pekpetrolhead - Friday, April 22, 2016 - link
Youy might want to consider a Giada F300. Fanless (whole chassis is a heatsink), i5 - great unit allround.